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Rangers look to pick up timely hitting

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By Dave Sessions
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MLB.com |

ARLINGTON -- The Rangers headed into their series against the Mariners hoping they could find the offense at home that had seemed to elude them during much of their six-game road trip through Seattle and Chicago.

Texas hit just .237 (9-for-38) with runners in scoring position in the previous four games. Much of the Rangers' lineup has been struggling in that situation all season -- David Murphy is hitting .235, Adrian Beltre is at .167, A.J. Pierzynski is at .143 and Mitch Moreland is hitless in seven at-bats.

"If those guys get going and get consistent, things will work out," manager Ron Washington said. "Those are the ones that we depend on right now that are not where we'd like to have them or where they'd like to be. It happens in the game."

Fifteen games into the season, the Rangers were averaging 3.7 runs per game, down from 5.0 last season when they scored an American League-best 808 runs.

"If the offense had been swinging the bats up to its capability, we could have a lot better record than we do now," DH Lance Berkman said. "We really haven't gotten into a good groove as a team offensively. I feel like that'll come, and when it does, it'll benefit us. I'd like to see it sooner rather than later."

Dave Sessions is a contributor to MLB.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs.